We’re looking forward to introducing you to Rachele Carmona. Check out our conversation below.
Hi Rachele, thank you for taking the time to reflect back on your journey with us. I think our readers are in for a real treat. There is so much we can all learn from each other and so thank you again for opening up with us. Let’s get into it: What are you being called to do now, that you may have been afraid of before?
For a long time I was unsure about how to use my platform in the name of social justice, but the more time passes, the more I feel a calling to overtly announce that my page is a safe space for everyone. Crochet has always been about connection for me, but I realized that connection only matters if everyone knows that they belong. Lately I have been more aware of intentionally weaving that message into every thing I do. So I’m focusing now on leading by example and being the change that I want to see.
Can you briefly introduce yourself and share what makes you or your brand unique?
I’m Rachele Carmona, the designer and maker behind CypressTextiles, a crochet blanket pattern website. You can find my patterns for free on my website, on selling platforms like Etsy and Ravelry, in magazines, and in my books, available wherever craft books are sold. I’ve just recently wrapped up my latest book, “Crochet Modular Blankets”, which releases in November!
I believe making should be joyful and freeing. Through my patterns, tutorials, and blog, I aim to make crochet feel less like a niche craft and more like a shared way to care and connect. My designs and courses are geared toward fighting perfectionism and silencing that meanie inner voice, so that makers can create with confidence. My motto is that crafting is meant to de-stress you, not re-stress you.
Amazing, so let’s take a moment to go back in time. What did you believe about yourself as a child that you no longer believe?
As a child, I always felt different. Someone more recently told me that everyone feels that way, and even if that is true, I don’t think it matters, because when you’re a child, you can’t really see life from other perspectives just yet. I thought that my oddness would make me a forever-outcast, so I spent my teens and twenties attempting to force myself into a box, and never quite felt like I was doing it right. Then I hit that sweet spot of my thirties and now forties, where I lean in to my weirdness and use it as a beacon to attract others like me. I used to believe that being different would mean I would always be alone, but now I know that being true to myself is exactly what has helped me connect most deeply to others, especially in the maker world.
Do you remember a time someone truly listened to you?
Yes, I can say with confidence that I’m proud to have a husband who truly listens to me. Perimenopause has hit me like a freight train and flipped my life upside down. I do not feel like myself in the slightest at the moment, and when I hit a very low point last month, I asked my unsuspecting husband to lay down with me in the dark. Then, through blubbering tears, I poured out thoughts and lamentations on my career, my body, my sex drive, my identity, my everything. And he just listened to me and reassured me until it eventually passed. He didn’t try to fix it or diminish it. He just stayed listening.
I know I’m lucky to have that kind of presence to remind me that even though I feel unrecognizable right now, I’m still me.
So a lot of these questions go deep, but if you are open to it, we’ve got a few more questions that we’d love to get your take on. What’s a belief or project you’re committed to, no matter how long it takes?
This is a great question! I am committed to making creativity feel safe and accessible to everyone, no matter how long it takes. The fiber world has long had invisible walls with ideas about who “belongs” or what counts as “good.” I want to dismantle that and have a corner of the world where imperfection is celebrated, not corrected. Through free patterns, community resources, and honest conversations about the harm of perfection-chasing.
I’ve long admired creators who use their platform to shine a light on the injustices of the world, and I tried to figure out a way that I can join those voices, landing on simply being that safe space, and that beacon of light. Creativity is something we owe ourselves to cultivate, not a luxury or a competition. I am definitely in it for the long game, helping people reconnect to crafting as something healing and joyful.
Okay, we’ve made it essentially to the end. One last question before you go. What is the story you hope people tell about you when you’re gone?
Legacy. What a timeless and pressing question. The older I get, the more I ruminate on legacy and what I will be leaving behind. If I ask anyone in my orbit, they’ll say my legacy is my children, and of course that is true. But I have poured creative works from my soul into the world, and what will become of them when I’m gone? Books will go out of print, websites will go unpaid and disappear, new patterns will replace mine, and all of my work will dissipate into the ether. Nothing is forever. This is an inevitability, and therefore my thoughts on legacy can’t stop there.
I have to focus on the change that I am making to people’s lives today, now, while I’m still here. My artistic legacy can be the influence that I have on people today, and the outward ripple effect that it will have. Whether people make my blanket patterns and snuggle under them, or use my crochet-alongs as a way to cope with life, or simply read a blog post I wrote and take something useful from it. Yes, I have made some nice things, but it’s more important the presence that I have today. I hope the story that people tell about me isn’t just about what I created, but about how I made them feel. If I caused a ripple of love and warmth, then I succeeded.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://cypresstextiles.net
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/cypresstextiles
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/cypresstextiles
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@RacheleCarmona
- Other: https://cypresstextiles.podia.com/
